With a lot of financial footwork and board shakeup, Shaw's Supermarkets across New England are being sold to AB Acquisitions LLC, the parent company of Albertson's LLC. The deal, signed Jan. 10, includes the acquistion of five other supermarket and pharmacy chains from the Minneapolis-based Supervalu Inc., and is valued at $3.3 billion.

The two LLCs, AB Acquisitions and Albertson's, are affiliates of the investment group Cerberus Capital Management L.P., which includes real estate companies such as Kimco Realty Corporation (NYSE: KIM), Klaff Realty LP, Lubert-Adler Partners and Schottenstein Real Estate Group.

Besides acquiring Shaw's, which has a store in Rockland, AB Acquisitions is also purchasing Albertsons, Acme, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's and Star Market stores and related Osco and Sav-on in-store pharmacies. Supervalu Inc. has approximately 2,400 stores across the country, its key markets in eastern Massachusetts, Portland, Philadelphia, Norfolk-Portsmouth, Va., parts of the Midwest, and several western states.

Shaw's has 24 supermarkets in Maine, 34 in New Hampshire, and 89 in Massachusetts.

"We are pleased to be making this investment and look forward to helping build long-term value for all stakeholders," said Lenard Tessler, Co-Head of Global Private Equity and Senior Managing Director at Cerberus, in a news release. "We believe these transactions will create stronger, more competitive businesses."

According to the New York City-based Ceberus, the private investment firm was established in 1992. Today it has more than $20 billion under management primarily invested in distressed securities and assets; control and noncontrol private equity; commercial midmarket lending and real estate-related investments.

Shaw's was originally a Maine company started in 1860 by George C. Shaw, who opened his first store in Portland. He and Maynard A. Davis collaborated to grow the business throughout eastern New England. Today, Shaw's employs approximately 25,000 in Maine, Mass., New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.

In Maine, Shaw's largest competitors include Hannaford Supermarkets, owned by Delhaize America, a subsidiary of the Belgian Delhaize Group, and the Arkansas-based WalMart.